Sharing of content viewed by a user

ABSTRACT

Embodiments described herein enable a user to share content with another user. In embodiments, a portion of the multimedia content presented by an output device (e.g., a streaming media player, a set-top box, etc.) may be selected for sharing (e.g., with one or more user(s)). Information associated with the multimedia content may be further determined (e.g., metadata, a service or source device providing the content, a time, an identification, etc.). Upon receiving a selection to share the multimedia content, a user-interactive identifier (e.g., a hyperlink) and at least one of the information and the portion of the multimedia content may be transmitted to enable the user(s) to access the content. In this manner, access to multimedia content may be easily and quickly shared with another user with relatively low user effort.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims foreign priority to Indian Patent ApplicationNo. 201641044986, filed on Dec. 30, 2016, the entirety of which isincorporated by reference herein.

BACKGROUND Technical Field

The present subject matter relates to methods, systems, and apparatusesfor sharing multimedia content.

Background Art

Sharing video and other content with others is becoming increasinglypopular. Web sites that enable content to be shared by others (e.g.,YouTube®, Facebook®, etc.) are also becoming quite popular. However, thecontent that is shared is generally limited to content that isgenerated/recorded by the user himself, for example, using a camera on asmartphone.

A typical home entertainment system may consist of a variety ofdifferent multimedia devices, such as a television (TV), acable/satellite set-top box (STB), video game consoles such as Xbox™ orPlaystation™, media streaming devices, such as Roku™, AppleTV™,Chromecast™, and a host of other devices, such as Blu-ray™ players,digital video disc (DVD) and compact disc (CD) players. Very often,these devices are connected through an audio-video receiver (AVR).Typically, a user shares multimedia content by sharing the physicalstorage (DVDs, CDs) on which the multimedia content is stored.

BRIEF SUMMARY

This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form that are further described below in the DetailedDescription. This Summary is not intended to identify key features oressential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended tobe used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter.

Methods, systems, and apparatuses are described for sharing contentviewed by a user. Multimedia content may be presented by an outputdevice to an audience. A selection of a portion of the multimediacontent is selected for sharing by an audience member. Informationassociated with the portion of the multimedia content is automaticallydetermined. A selection is received of one or more users with which toshare the portion of the multimedia content. A user-interactiveidentifier, the determined information, and/or the portion of themultimedia content are transmitted to the selected user(s). Theuser-interactive identifier is configured to enable the multimediacontent to be accessed by the one or more selected users.

Further features and advantages, as well as the structure and operationof various examples, are described in detail below with reference to theaccompanying drawings. It is noted that the ideas and techniques are notlimited to the specific examples described herein. Such examples arepresented herein for illustrative purposes only. Additional exampleswill be apparent to persons skilled in the relevant art(s) based on theteachings contained herein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS/FIGURES

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein and form a partof the specification, illustrate embodiments and, together with thedescription, further serve to explain the principles of the embodimentsand to enable a person skilled in the pertinent art to make and use theembodiments.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system that is configured to enable thesharing of multimedia content provided by a plurality of electronicdevices in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a switching device that is configured toenable the sharing of multimedia content, enabling one or moreaudio/video (AV) port(s) to be coupled either to a source device or asink device in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a switching device that is configured toenable the sharing of multimedia content provided by an electronicdevice in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a system that is configured to enable thesharing of multimedia provided by an output device in accordance with anembodiment.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a portion of interactive sharing logicconfigured to enable the sharing of multimedia content in accordancewith an embodiment.

FIG. 6 depicts a flowchart of a method for transmitting multimediacontent to a user in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 7 depicts a flowchart of a method for providing an interactiveeditor for editing multimedia content in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 8 depicts a flowchart of a method for obtaining additionalinformation corresponding to multimedia content in accordance with anembodiment.

FIG. 9 depicts a flowchart of a method for obtaining and storinginformation associated with one or more recorded portions of multimediacontent in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of a computer system in accordance with anembodiment.

Embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanyingdrawings. In the drawings, like reference numbers indicate identical orfunctionally similar elements. Additionally, the left-most digit(s) of areference number identifies the drawing in which the reference numberfirst appears.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Introduction

The present specification discloses numerous example embodiments. Thescope of the present patent application is not limited to the disclosedembodiments, but also encompasses combinations of the disclosedembodiments, as well as modifications to the disclosed embodiments.

References in the specification to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,”“an example embodiment,” etc., indicate that the embodiment describedmay include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, butevery embodiment may not necessarily include the particular feature,structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarilyreferring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature,structure, or characteristic is described in connection with anembodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of oneskilled in the art to affect such feature, structure, or characteristicin connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitlydescribed.

Furthermore, it should be understood that spatial descriptions (e.g.,“above,” “below,” “up,” “left,” “right,” “down,” “top,” “bottom,”“vertical,” “horizontal,” “front,” “rear,” etc.) used herein are forpurposes of illustration only, and that practical implementations of thestructures described herein can be spatially arranged in any orientationor manner.

Numerous exemplary embodiments are described as follows. It is notedthat the section/subsection headings used herein are not intended to belimiting. Embodiments described in this document may be eligible forinclusion within multiple different sections or subsections.Furthermore, disclosed embodiments may be combined with each other inany manner.

Example Embodiments

Sharing video and other content with others is becoming increasinglypopular. Web sites that enable content to be shared by others (e.g.,YouTube®, Facebook®, etc.) are also becoming quite popular. However, thecontent that is shared is generally limited to content that isgenerated/recorded by the user himself, for example, using a camera on asmartphone. Despite advances in technology, it continues to be difficultto share other content, such as multimedia content, accessed on a homeentertainment system.

For instance, a typical home entertainment system may consist of avariety of different multimedia devices, such as a television (TV), acable/satellite set-top box (STB), video game consoles such as Xbox™ orPlaystation™, media streaming devices, such as Roku™, AppleTV™,Chromecast™, and a host of other devices, such as Blu-ray™ players,digital video disc (DVD) and compact disc (CD) players. Very often,these devices are connected through an audio-video receiver (AVR).However, sharing content (e.g., multimedia content viewed previously orcurrently being viewed) on any of the connected devices with anotheruser is overly cumbersome. For example, a user may need to stop watchingthe multimedia content, manually initiate a message or an email toanother user, compose a message identifying the multimedia content, andtransmit the message to the other user. Furthermore, there is no way toattach a portion of the actual multimedia content (e.g., a video or animage) to the user's message, resulting in a message that is typicallylimited to a text-only message entirely composed by the user.

Example embodiments described herein enable a user to share content withanother user. In embodiments, multimedia content may be presented by anoutput device (e.g., a streaming media player, a set-top box, etc.). Aportion of the multimedia content may be selected for sharing (e.g.,with another user). Information associated with the multimedia contentmay be further determined (e.g., metadata, a service or source deviceproviding the content, a time, an identification of the content, etc.).Upon submission of a selection to share the multimedia content, auser-interactive identifier (e.g., a hyperlink) and information and/orcontent may be transmitted to enable the receiving user to access thecontent. In this manner, recorded content may be easily and quicklyshared with another user with relatively low user effort.

Accordingly, techniques are described herein that enable a user to sharea short video or audio clip of content that the user is watching (e.g.,via live television (TV)) or listening to, share an image, share a snapshot and/or animated Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) of the content,and/or share metadata information about the content in the form of anaccessible address such as a uniform resource locator (URL) (e.g., ahyperlink) such that the receiving party (e.g., another user) cannavigate to the address (e.g., click on the hyperlink) and watch thecontent. In accordance with an embodiment, the user may be enabled tocarry out the aforementioned techniques by interacting with an interfaceelement (e.g., a button) of a control device or a smartphone, or via avoice command, thereby enabling the user to share content viewed orlistened to by the user with a press of a button or a short voicecommand.

For example, a user may be watching a football game, and may witness aninteresting play (e.g., a touchdown, a fumble, an interception, etc.)that the user would like to share with another user. In accordance withtechniques described herein, the user may interact with a switchingdevice (e.g., by pressing a button on the control device or issuing avoice command) that would enable the user to record and/or share thelast N seconds, minutes, etc. of content watched (which is beingcontinuously recorded). In another embedment, a user may press and holdan interface element (e.g., a button) on a control device to cause auser-defined time period of content currently being watched to berecorded and/or shared.

The user may also interact with the switching device to share auser-interactive identifier, information associated with the recordedcontent, and/or the recorded content with one or more other users. Inembodiments, the user may further select which portions (e.g., whichportions of the last N seconds, minutes, etc. or of the user-definedtime period), of the recorded content the user would like to share withanother user, such as by interacting with a video editor in a graphicaluser interface (GUI).

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system 100 that is configured toautomatically setup and control a plurality of electronic devices102A-102D and content provided thereby and/or played back thereon. Asshown in FIG. 1, system 100 includes electronic devices 102A-102D, aswitching device 104, and one or more control device(s) 106.

In embodiments, system 100 may be an exemplary operating environment forthe techniques described herein to share multimedia content with one ormore other users. Techniques in accordance with embodiments discussedherein are not, however limited to system 100. Other exemplary operatingenvironments in which embodiments discussed herein may be carried outinclude other types of switching device (e.g., an audio/video receiver,high definition multimedia interface (HDMI) switch, etc.), a set-topbox, a desktop computer, a laptop, a tablet, a smart phone, a personaldata assistant, etc. In accordance with an embodiment, the techniquesdescribed herein may be integrated with a display device (e.g., atelevision, a monitor, a projector, and/or the like). System 100 isdescribed as follows.

Electronic devices 102A-102C are configured to provide audio and/orvideo signals (e.g., audio and/or video signals 108A, 108B, 108C,respectively) for playback and are referred to as “source” devices.Electronic device 102D is configured to receive audio and/or videosignals (e.g., audio and/or video signals 112) and is referred to as a“sink” device. As shown in FIG. 1, electronic device 102A is coupled toa first AV port 110A of switching device 104, electronic device 102B iscoupled to a second AV port 110B of switching device 104, electronicdevice 102C is coupled to a third AV port 110C of switching device 104,and electronic device 102D is coupled to a fourth AV port 110D ofswitching device 104. In accordance with an embodiment, AV ports110A-110D are High Definition Media Interface (HDMI) ports. However,embodiments described herein are not so limited. As further shown inFIG. 1, electronic device 102A is a Blu-ray player, electronic device102B is a set-top box (STB) (e.g., a device used to access a cable TVfeed, a satellite TV feed, an antenna-based TV feed, etc.), electronicdevice 102C is a streaming media device, and electronic device 102D is aTV. Examples of a streaming media device include, but are not limitedto, Internet streaming devices such as a Roku™ device, an AppleTV™device, a Chromecast™, and/or the like. Streaming media devices mayfurther playback content from a plurality of content sources, such asany one of a number of Internet streaming services (e.g., Netflix®,Hulu®, HBO Go®, etc.). The depiction of these particular electronicsdevices is merely for illustrative purposes. It is noted that while FIG.1 shows that switching device 104 includes four AV ports 110A-110D,switching device 104 may include any number of AV ports, and therefore,may be coupled to any number of electronic devices.

Switching device 104 is configured to select (e.g., switch between)different audio and/or video source devices that are coupled to AV ports110A-110C (e.g., electronic device 102A, electronic device 102B orelectronic device 102C) and provide an output signal (e.g., audio and/orvideo signals 112) comprising audio and/or video signals (e.g., audioand/or video signals 108A, audio and/or video signals 108B or audioand/or video signals 108C) provided by the selected audio/video source.Audio and/or video signals 112 are provided to electronic device 102Dthrough AV port 110D. Audio and/or video signals 112 may also beprovided to any other device capable of playing back audio and/or videosignals (e.g., speakers) that may be coupled to AV port 102D and/orother port(s) (not shown) of switching device 104.

Each of AV ports 110A-110D may be configurable to be coupled to either asource device (e.g., electronic device 102A, electronic device 102B, orelectronic device 102C) or a sink device (e.g., electronic device 102D).For example, switching device 104 may be configured to automaticallydetermine whether an electronic device coupled to a particular AV portis a source device or a sink device. Based on that determination,switching device 104 may configure that AV port to be a source AV portor a sink AV port. Additional details regarding the auto-configurationof AV ports 110A-110D is described below in Subsection A.

Switching device 104 may also be configured to automatically identify(e.g., determine) the electronic device coupled to each of AV ports110A-110D. For example, for each electronic device coupled to aparticular AV port, switching device 104 may be configured to determineone or more identifiers of the electronic device, such as, but notlimited to, a type of the electronic device (e.g., a DVD player, aBlu-ray player, a video game console, a streaming media device, a TV, anHDTV, a projector, etc.), a brand name of the electronic device, amanufacturer of the electronic device, a model number of the electronicdevice, etc. The identifier(s) may be determined according to varioustechniques, such as, but not limited to: techniques based on HDMIconsumer electronics control (CEC), identification via video data,identification via audio data, identification via IP network,determination by remote control operation by a user, identification viavoice input from a user, and identification via explicit deviceselection by a user. Upon determining the identifier(s), switchingdevice 104 may be configured to map the identified electronic device tothe AV port to which that electronic device is connected. This processmay be referred to as “device-to-port mapping.” Additional detailsregarding device-to-port mapping is described below in Subsection B.

Switching device 104 may be further configured to automatically selector switch between AV ports 110A-110C based on determining whichelectronic device(s) a user would like to use for providing and/orpresenting content.

Control device(s) 106 may be operable to control any or all ofelectronic devices 102A-102D and/or switching device 104. Controldevice(s) 106 may include a display screen and/or one or more physicalinterface elements (e.g., buttons, sliders, jog shuttles, etc.). Inaccordance with an embodiment, the display screen (or a portion thereof)may be a capacitive (or other type) touch display screen. The displayscreen may be configured to display one or more virtual interfaceelements (e.g., icons, buttons, search boxes, etc.). The display screenmay be configured to enable a user to interact, view, search, and/orselect content for viewing via any of electronic device 102A-102D andswitching device 104.

In accordance with an embodiment, control device(s) 106 may be operableto control any or all of electronic devices 102A-102D by transmittingcontrol signals thereto. In embodiments, control signals may betransmitted via any suitable type of radio-frequency (RF) communication(e.g., Bluetooth™, as described in the various standards developed andlicensed by the Bluetooth™ Special Interest Group, technologies such asZigBee® that are based on the IEEE 802.15.4 standard for wirelesspersonal area networks, near field communication (NFC), other RF-basedor internet protocol (IP)-based communication technologies such as anyof the well-known IEEE 802.11 protocols, etc.), and/or the like. Inaccordance with embodiment, control signals may also be transmitted viaother types of communication protocols, such as via an infrared (IR)signal utilizing an IR protocol.

In accordance with techniques described herein, switching device 104further includes interactive sharing logic 114. As described in greaterdetail below in Subsection C, interactive sharing logic 114 may enablethe sharing of a user-interactive identifier, information associatedwith multimedia content, and/or the multimedia content provided by oneof the output devices connected to port(s) 110A-110C to another user.

A. Automatic Configuration of AV Ports

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a switching device 204 that is configuredto automatically configure audio/video (AV) port(s) to be coupled eitherto a source device or a sink device in accordance with an embodiment.Switching device 204 is an example of switching device 104, as describedabove in reference to FIG. 1. Switching device 204 may include a numberof sub-schemes according to embodiments: a configuration scheme 250, aswitching scheme 252, a control scheme 254, a detection scheme 256, anda connector scheme 258. According to various embodiments, thesub-schemes shown may be combined with each other, separated intomultiple components, etc.

Connector scheme 258 includes one or more AV ports 210 (also referred toas AV connectors). In accordance with an embodiment, AV port(s) 210 areconfigured to accept HDMI connections from HDMI enabled devices, such asHDMI sink devices and HDMI source devices. According to embodiments, anyAV port of AV port(s) 210 may accept a sink device or a source device.While not shown for illustrative clarity, a typical signal conditioningscheme may also be retained to meet the strict compliance requirementsfor the standard used to implement AV port(s) 210 (e.g., an HDMIstandard in an embodiment where AV port(s) 210 are HDMI AV port(s)).

Configuration scheme 250 includes a transceiver 240 that includes aninput component RX 242 and an output component TX 244. Transceiver 240is configured to receive audio and/or video signals at input componentRX 242 and to transmit audio and/or video signals from output componentTX 244. In other words, transceiver 240 provides received input audioand/or video signals from source devices as output audio and/or videosignals to sink devices, in accordance with the embodiments herein. Itis also contemplated herein that one or more of input component RX 242and/or an output component TX 244 may be included in transceiver 240 invarious embodiments.

Detection scheme 256 may include one or more detectors 232 that areconfigured to detect indicia of operational modes to determine a type ofan electronic device (e.g., an HDMI-enabled device) connected to AVport(s) 210 (i.e., whether the electronic device is a source or a sink).In embodiments, detectors 232 may be configured to make such adetection/determination based on signals received from AV port(s) 210.

Control scheme 254 may include control logic 220 that is configured toreceive the detected indicia or signals based thereon from detectors 232and use the received information to control one or more aspects ofswitching scheme 252, such as one or more switches included therein. Inaccordance with techniques described herein, control logic 220 includesinteractive sharing logic 260, which is an embodiment of interactivesharing logic 114 described above with reference to FIG. 1. As describedbelow in Subsection C, interactive sharing logic 260 enables the sharingof a user-interactive identifier, information associated with multimediacontent, and/or a portion of the multimedia content provided by one ofthe output devices connected to port(s) 210 to another user.

Switching scheme 252 includes switch circuit 214. Switch circuit 214 maybe configured to provide switched connections between AV port(s) 210 andtransceiver 240. That is, switch circuit 214 may provide a connectionbetween any AV port of AV port(s) 210 and any receiver (e.g., inputcomponent RX 242) or transmitter (e.g., output component TX 244) oftransceiver 240. Switch circuit 214 may comprise one or more switchcircuit portions and may be combined or used in conjunction with othersub-schemes of switching device 204.

Accordingly, there is no need to pre-define the function of any port ofAV port(s) 210. That is, AV port(s) 210 can be configured either asinputs or outputs. Additionally, detector(s) 232 are configured todetect the type of electronic device (i.e., a source device or a sinkdevice) connected to an AV port of AV port(s) 210 and provide thisinformation as input to control scheme 254, which may then issueappropriate commands to switch circuit 214 to either connect to inputcomponent RX 242 or output component TX 244 of transceiver 240. Thus,the same AV port can act as an input or an output depending on whichtype of electronic device is connected and considerably enhance theconvenience of an interface process of switching device 204 (e.g., aprocess in which a user connects electronic device(s) to AV port(s) 210of switching device 204).

Accordingly, the techniques and embodiments described herein provide forimprovements in auto-detection and adaptive configuration of AV port(s),as described above. Additional details regarding the auto-configurationof AV port(s) may be found in U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/945,079, filed on Nov. 18, 2015 and entitled “Auto Detection andAdaptive Configuration of HDMI Ports,” the entirety of which isincorporated by reference.

B. Automatic Port Mapping to Connected Devices

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a system 300 that is configured toautomatically identify electronic device(s) coupled to AV port(s) of aswitching device and map the identified electronic device(s) to the AVport(s) to which they are connected in accordance with an embodiment. Asshown in FIG. 3, system 300 includes one or more electronic devices302A, one or more electronic devices 302B and switching device 304.Electronic device(s) 302A are source devices configured to provide audioand/or video signals. Electronic device(s) 302B are sink devicesconfigured to receive audio and/or video signals. Electronic device(s)302A may be examples of electronic devices 102A-102C, and electronicdevice(s) 302B may be examples of electronic device 102D, as describedabove in reference to FIG. 1.

Switching device 304 is an example of switching device 104 or switchingdevice 204, as described above in reference to FIGS. 1 and 2,respectively. As shown in FIG. 3, switching device 304 includes AVport(s) 310, transceiver 340, mapping component 318, control logic 320and identification component 338. Each of electronic devices 302A and302B are coupled to an AV port of AV port(s) 310. Each of AV port(s) 310may be automatically configured to be a source AV port or a sink AV portin a similar manner as described above in Subsection A.

Transceiver 340 is an example of transceiver 240 as described above inreference to FIG. 2. Accordingly, transceiver 340 may be configured toreceive audio and/or video signals and to transmit audio and/or videosignals. In other words, transceiver 340 provides received input audioand/or video signals from source devices as output audio and/or videosignals to sink devices, in accordance with the embodiments herein.

Identification component 338 may be configured to identify theelectronic device (e.g., electronic device(s) 302A or 302B) coupled toeach AV port of AV port(s) 310. For example, for each of electronicdevice(s) 302A or 302B, identification component 338 may be configuredto determine identifier(s) of the electronic device, such as, but notlimited to a type of the electronic device (e.g., a DVD player, aBlu-ray player, a video game console, a streaming media device, a TV, anHDTV, a projector, etc.), a brand name of the electronic device, amanufacturer of the electronic device, a model number of the electronicdevice, etc. The identifier(s) may be determined according to varioustechniques, such as, but not limited to: techniques based on HDMIconsumer electronics control (CEC), identification via video data,identification via audio data, identification via IP network, remotecontrol operation by a user, voice input from a user, and explicitdevice selection by a user. Identification component 338 provides theidentifier(s) to mapping component 318.

Mapping component 318 is configured to determine a device-to-portmapping based on the identifier(s) received from identificationcomponent 338. For example, mapping component 318 may generate and/orstore a data structure (e.g., a table) that associates the identifier(s)for any given identified electronic device to the AV port to which thatelectronic device is coupled. In this way, the device-to-port mappingmay indicate that a first electronic device (e.g., a Blu-ray player) iscoupled to a first AV port (e.g., AV Port 1), that a second electronicdevice (e.g., a STB) is coupled to a second AV port (e.g., AV Port 2),and that a third electronic device (e.g., a TV) is coupled to a third AVport (e.g., AV Port 3).

Additional details regarding the identification of electronic device(s)and the mapping of electronic device(s) to AV port(s) may be found inU.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/945,125, filed on Nov. 18, 2015 andentitled “Automatic Identification and Mapping of Consumer ElectronicDevices to Ports on an HDMI Switch,” the entirety of which isincorporated by reference.

Control logic 320 is an example of control logic 220 as described abovein reference to FIG. 2. In accordance with techniques described herein,control logic 220 includes interactive sharing logic 322, which is anembodiment of interactive sharing logic 114 described above withreference to FIG. 1. As described below in Subsection C, interactivesharing logic 322 may enable the sharing of a user-interactiveidentifier, information associated with multimedia content, and/or aportion of the multimedia content provided by one of the output devices(e.g., one of electronic device(s) 302A) connected to port(s) 310 toanother user.

C. Multimedia Content Sharing

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a system 400 that is configured to enablesharing of content in accordance with an embodiment. As shown in FIG. 4,system 400 includes electronic devices 402A-402E, one or more electronicdevice(s) 426, a switching device 404, a control device 406, and a voicecommand 408. System 400 is described as follows.

In the illustrative example shown in FIG. 4, electronic devices402A-402C are source devices configured to provide audio and/or videosignals. Electronic devices 402D and 402E are sink devices configured toreceive audio and/or video signals. As shown in FIG. 4, electronicdevice 402A is a Blu-ray player, electronic device 402B is a STB,electronic device 402C is a streaming media player, electronic device402D is a TV and electronic device 402E is a projector. The depiction ofthese particular electronics devices is merely for illustrativepurposes. Each of electronic devices 402A-402E may be any electronicdevice capable of providing and/or playing back AV signals.

Switching device 404 is an example of switching device 104, switchingdevice 204 or switching device 304, as described above in reference toFIGS. 1-3, respectively. As shown in FIG. 4, switching device 404includes AV ports 410A-410E, control logic 412, a switch circuit 414,user interface logic 416, a mapping component 418, one or morestorage(s) 420, a receiver 422, and a network interface 424. As furthershown in FIG. 4, electronic device 402A is coupled to AV port 410A,electronic device 402B is coupled to AV port 410B, electronic device402C is coupled to AV port 410C, electronic device 402D is coupled to AVport 410D and electronic device 402E is coupled to AV port 410E. AVports 410A-410C may be automatically configured to be source AV ports,and AV ports 410D and 410E may be automatically configured to be sink AVports in a similar manner as described above in Subsection A.

Switch circuit 414 is an example of switch circuit 214 as describedabove in reference to FIG. 2. Switch circuit 414 may be configured toconnect a particular source AV port (e.g., AV ports 410A, 410B, or 410C)to a particular one or more sink AV ports (e.g., AV port 410D and/or AVport 410E) based on a command (e.g., a command from control device 406or via a voice command 408).

Receiver 422 may include a sensor or the like configured to receive acommand from a user to control switching device 404 or any of electronicdevices 402A-402E. For instance, receiver 422 may receive controlsignals from one more input devices, such as a remote control (e.g.,control device 406), that may be operable to control one or morefunctions of switching device 404 or transmit operation commands (orother commands) to switching device 404. In embodiments, receiver 422may include an IR sensor and/or an RF receiver configured to receivesignals via any suitable protocol, such as via Wi-Fi, Bluetooth®,ZigBee® RF4CE, etc., in embodiments. In other embodiments, receiver 422,or control device 406, may include a microphone configured to capture avoice command 408 from a user. Using techniques known to those skilledin the art, voice command 408 may be converted automatically to text,which may be used by one or more components of switching device 404 inaccordance with techniques described herein.

For instance, receiver 422 may receive an operation request from a userto perform any desired action on one of the electronic devices 402A-402Eor on switching device 404. Receiver 422 may receive an operationrequest through control device 406 or via voice command 408, or throughany other suitable interface. By way of a non-limiting example, anoperation request may include a request to launch a particularapplication or multimedia content (e.g., a television show or a movie)or switch an input or output via switch circuit 414. In accordance withtechniques described herein, an operation request may include a commandto record multimedia content, select a portion of multimedia content forsharing, edit a multimedia content using an interactive editor, and/orshare multimedia content (or a portion thereof) with one or moreselected users.

In embodiments, control device 406 may be operable to control one ofelectronic device(s) 402A-402E or switching device 404 by transmittingcontrol signals thereto. In accordance with an embodiment, the controlsignals are transmitted via a wired connection (e.g., via a UniversalSerial Bus (USB) cable, a coaxial cable, etc.). In accordance withanother embodiment, the control signals are transmitted via a wirelessconnection (e.g., via IR communication, RF communication (e.g.,Bluetooth™, as described in the various standards developed and licensedby the Bluetooth™ Special Interest Group, technologies such as ZigBee®that are based on the IEEE 802.15.4 standard for wireless personal areanetworks, NFC, other RF-based or IP-based communication technologiessuch as any of the well-known IEEE 802.11 protocols, etc.) and/or thelike.

Control device 406 may comprise any suitable user interface, including aphysical user interface, graphical user interface, voice-based userinterface, or the like. For instance, control device 406 may comprisephysical interface elements, such as, but no limited to, a power button,a volume up button, a volume down button, number keys, and/or letterkeys. Control device 406 may include a display screen and/or one or morephysical interface elements (e.g., buttons, sliders, jog shuttles,etc.). In accordance with an embodiment, the display screen (or aportion thereof) may be a capacitive touch display screen. The displayscreen may be configured to display one or more virtual interfaceelements (e.g., icons, buttons, search boxes, etc.). One or more of theuser interface elements on control device 406 may be activated whenpressed (e.g., such interface elements may be click-sensitive), ratherthan simply being touched. This advantageously enables control device406 to unambiguously determine that a user intended to activate suchinterface element(s) instead of accidentally touching such interfaceelement(s). In accordance with one or more embodiments, one or more ofinterface elements may provide tactile feedback when activated.Actuation of any one of the user interface elements may cause controldevice 406 to transmit a signal to receiver 422, as shown in FIG. 4.

Examples of control device 406 include, but are not limited to, a remotecontrol device, a desktop computer, a laptop, a tablet, a smart phone, apersonal data assistant, and/or any other device that is communicativelycoupled to the electronic device in order to control the electronicdevice. For instance, control device 406 may be capable of providing anadditional, or alternative, interface (e.g., via an applicationinstalled on the control device) with which a user may interact to carryout the techniques described herein, including but not limited torecording multimedia content, selecting a portion of content to share,selecting one or more users to share content with, and/or editing aportion of recorded multimedia content as described in more detailbelow. Control device 406 may further be configured to provide a userwith a listing of recorded content as an alternative to accessing such alisting on a display device coupled to switching device 404. As aresult, because the functions described herein to enable sharing ofcontent with one or more users may be provided directly in controldevice 406, a user may record and/or share clips with one or more userswithout disturbing playback of the multimedia content on the displaydevice.

It is noted that system 400 may comprise additional control device(s)that are operable to control any of electronic devices 402A-402E orswitching device 404. In another embodiment, control device 406 may be auniversal remote control that may be configured to operate a pluralityof electronic devices 402A-402E, and/or any other electronic device,such as switching device 404.

Mapping component 418 is an example of mapping component 318 asdescribed above in reference to FIG. 3. Mapping component 418 may beconfigured to identify a source device (e.g., electronic device 402A,electronic device 402B, or electronic device 402C) to be used forproviding content and/or one or more sink devices (e.g., electronicdevice 402D or electronic device 402E) for presenting the content basedon a user input. Mapping component 418 may be further configured toidentify the AV port(s) to which the identified source device and/orsink device are connected (as described above in Subsection B) andprovide an identifier to control logic 412 that identifies theidentified AV port(s).

Storage(s) 420 may be one or more of any storage device describedherein, such as, but not limited to, those described below with respectto FIG. 10. Storage(s) 420 may include a storage for storing multimediacontent presented by any one of electronic device(s) 402A-402C. Forinstance, a user may issue a command via a control device 406 or a voicecommand 408 to record multimedia content, or a portion thereof,resulting in storage(s) 420 storing such recorded content. Inembodiments, storage 420 may further include information associated witheach item of recorded multimedia content, such as metadata informationassociated with the multimedia content, a service providing themultimedia content (e.g., an application such as Netflix®), a sourcedevice (e.g., an AppleTV®, a Roku® device, a STB, etc.) providing themultimedia content, a time index associated with the multimedia content(e.g., a starting time, an ending time, and/or a run time for therecorded multimedia content), a unique identification assigned to themultimedia content by the service providing the multimedia content(e.g., a name or other identifier associated with the multimediacontent, a season and/or episode number, a description, summary, oroverview of the multimedia content, etc.), or one or more other servicesthat provide the multimedia content (e.g., other services through whichthe multimedia content may also be accessible).

In accordance with another embodiment, storage(s) 420 may further beconfigured to store additional information regarding one or more itemsof multimedia content. For instance, additional multimedia content(e.g., other video and/or audio clips) related to one or more items ofrecorded multimedia content, a brand or type of product present in oneor more items of multimedia content, an actor or actress present in oneor more items of multimedia content, and/or a filming location of one ormore items of multimedia content. It is understood that this list is notexhaustive. Rather, the additional multimedia content that may be storedin storage(s) 420 may include any information obtained or extracted fromanalyzing one or more frames of recorded multimedia content inaccordance with embodiments described herein.

In accordance with embodiments, storage(s) 420 may include a datastructure (e.g., a table/database, or the like) that associatesinformation with a particular item of multimedia. In embodiments,storage(s) 420 may be local (e.g., within switching device 404 or on adevice local to switching device 404, such as an external storagedevice), or remote (e.g., on a remote device, such as a cloud-basedsystem or on one of electronic device(s) 426).

Network interface 424 is configured to enable switching device 404 tocommunicate with one or more other devices (e.g., electronic device(s)426) via a network, such as a local area network (LAN), wide areanetwork (WAN), and/or other networks, such as the internet or a cellularor mobile network. Network interface 424 may include any suitable typeof interface, such as a wired and/or wireless interfaces. Inembodiments, network interface 424 may enable switching device 404 withtwo-way communication with one or more remote (e.g., cloud-based)systems. For instance, a remote system, such as a cloud-based server,may enable the storage of multimedia content (or portions thereof)recorded via switching device 404 from any of electronic devices402A-402E. For instance, switching device 404 may be configured toautomatically store recorded multimedia content in a remote system(e.g., a cloud-based system) in addition, and/or as an alternative tostoring such recorded content in one of storage(s) 420. In otherembodiments, switching device 404 may store recorded content on a remotesystem in response to a user input received from a control device 406 orvia voice command 408.

In embodiments, a remote system may further aid in one or moreprocessing functions of switching device 404 by performing one or moresteps of the techniques described herein. For example, in accordancewith embodiments discussed herein, a remote system may be configured toanalyze recorded multimedia content (or portions thereof, such as one ormore frames of the multimedia content) to obtain additional informationrelating to the multimedia content. Given that the remote systems may beable to provide additional processing power beyond switching device 404,the process of analyzing multimedia content to obtain additionalinformation may be completed even faster by leveraging this additionalprocessing capability.

Electronic device(s) 426 may include any type of device capable ofcommunicating with switching device 404 via a suitable interface (e.g.,network interface 424 as shown in FIG. 4). For instance, electronicdevice(s) 426 may comprise any well-known processing devices, telephones(cellular phones, smart phones and/or mobile phones), servers,electronic devices (e.g., consumer electronic devices) and/orcomputer/computing devices (laptops, tablets, desktops, etc.), such as acomputer 1000 shown in FIG. 10. In accordance with embodiments, theembodiments herein may also be adapted to any other type ofcommunication devices, computing systems, other electronic devices suchas gaming consoles, TVs, HDTVs, other home electronics and entertainmentdevices, HDMI repeaters or switches (such as another switching device404), and/or the like, that may include input/output ports into whichmultimedia devices are connected.

User interface logic 416 may be configured to enable the sharing ofcontent in accordance with the techniques described herein. For example,user interface logic 416 may provide selectable objects (e.g., viaon-screen menus and/or selectable icons) on a sink device (e.g.,electronic device 402D or 402E) in accordance with embodiments. In oneembodiment, user interface logic 416 may be configured to enable a userto initiate (e.g., via control device 406 or voice command 408) arecording of multimedia content presented by one of electronic devices402A-402C. In another embodiment, user interface logic 416 may beconfigured to enable a user to select a portion of multimedia content toshare and/or select one or more users to transmit the portion ofmultimedia content. In yet another embodiment, user interface logic 416may enable a user to view and/or interact with information associatedwith, or relating to, the recorded multimedia content. In yet anotherembodiment, user interface logic 416 may provide an interactive editorconfigured to enable a user to edit a portion of recorded multimediacontent (e.g., a video editor that a user may utilize to edit a videoprior to sharing with another user). The examples described herein arewithout limitation, however, as user interface logic 416 may beconfigured to enable a user to interact with switching device 404 inaccordance with any of the techniques described herein.

Control logic 412 is an example of control logic 220 as described abovein reference to FIG. 2 and/or control logic 320 described above inreference to FIG. 3. Based on mapping component 418 and a user inputreceived by receiver 422, control logic 412 may be configured to providea control signal to switch circuit 414, which causes switch circuit 414to connect the identified source AV port to the identified and/ordetermined one or more sink AV ports.

Control logic 412 further includes interactive sharing logic 428.Interactive sharing logic 428 is an example embodiment of interactivesharing logic 112, interactive sharing logic 260, and interactivesharing logic 322 described above in reference to FIGS. 1-3,respectively. In accordance with embodiments, interactive sharing logic428 may be configured to enable the sharing of a user-interactiveidentifier, information associated with multimedia content, and/or themultimedia content (or portions thereof) presented by an output device(e.g., any one of electronic devices 402A-402C). Multimedia content maybe shared with another user (e.g., a user of electronic device(s) 426)through any suitable interface (e.g., network interface 424 as shown inFIG. 4).

For example, if a user is watching a program presented by streamingmedia player 402C and decides to share an interesting scene (e.g., ashort clip or a single frame), receiver 422 can receive a command from auser to capture and/or share the portion of the multimedia content. Inan embodiment, a user can issue a command via a single interface elementon control device 406 that automatically captures the last N seconds(e.g., the last 5, 10, or 20 seconds, etc.) of the multimedia contentpresented by streaming media player 402C. In this manner, because theportion of the multimedia content may be captured from a buffer, a userneed not rewind the program to record the interesting scene. In anotherembodiment, a user may press and hold an interface element on controldevice 406 (or via a similar voice command to start and stop arecording), which may cause interactive sharing logic 428 to record aportion of multimedia content as long as the user is holding onto theinterface element. This enables the user to effectively selectmultimedia content for a user-specified period of time, rather than thelast N seconds from a buffer.

In embodiments, upon receiving a user selection of a portion ofmultimedia content to share (e.g., by selecting, capturing and/orrecording content through interaction with control device 406 and/or viavoice command 408), interactive sharing logic 428 may automaticallyobtain information (e.g., a program name, a source of the content,etc.). Because switching device 404 is a smart switching device that caninteract with electronic devices 402A-402C, interactive sharing logic428 can obtain information associated with the content viewed by theuser automatically and with minimal user involvement. As a result, theuser need not manually input information associated with the selectedcontent.

In accordance with embodiments, interactive sharing logic 428 mayreceive (e.g., via interaction with user interface logic 416) theidentity of one or more other users to share the portion of themultimedia content. For instance, a user may select a user of any one ofelectronic device(s) 426 to share the portion of the multimedia content.Upon receiving a selection, interactive sharing logic 428 may transmit,via a suitable interface (e.g., network interface 424) auser-interactive identifier where the multimedia content may beaccessed, information associated with multimedia content, and/or theportion of the multimedia content (e.g., a short clip or a single frame)to the selected user(s). In other embodiments, interactive sharing logic428 may be configured to provide, via a display device (e.g., electronicdevice 402D or 402E) the user-interactive identifier that the user maychoose to share with one or more selected users.

Thus, a user of switching device 404 may easily and effortlessly sharemultimedia content viewed in real-time without the need to engage incumbersome steps or requiring additional hardware (e.g., a separatecomputer). Furthermore, because interactive sharing logic 428 canautomatically determine and transmit a user-interactive identifier alongwith information associated with the multimedia content, a user ofswitching device 404 need not separately input such information, thusfurther speeding up the sharing techniques described herein.

Accordingly, in embodiments, interactive sharing logic 428 may beconfigured to enable the sharing of multimedia content being viewed by auser. FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an exemplary interactive sharinglogic implementation 502 of interactive sharing logic 428 describedherein. As shown in FIG. 5, interactive sharing logic 502 may includeone or more buffer(s) 504 configured to automatically store apredetermined length of multimedia content viewed by a user, capturelogic 506 configured to record multimedia content presented by an outputdevice and receive a selection of a portion of the multimedia contentfor sharing, information determination logic 508 comprising a contentidentifier 510 and a content analyzer 512 configured to obtaininformation associated with, or relating to, recorded multimediacontent, sharing logic 514 configured to receive a selection of one ormore users to share the portion of the multimedia content with, and aninteractive editor 516 configured to enable a user to edit a previouslycaptured portion of multimedia content. It is contemplated, however,that in various embodiments, one or more components of interactivesharing logic 502 as shown in FIG. 5 may not be included and thatadditional components may be included.

Although it is depicted in FIG. 5 that buffer(s) 504, capture logic 506,information determination logic 508, content identifier 510, contentanalyzer 512, sharing logic 514, and interactive editor 516 may be partof a first device (e.g., in interactive sharing logic 502 of switchingdevice 404), it is contemplated that any one or more of the sub-blocksmay be present on another computing device (e.g., a remote servercoupled via network interface 424). For instance, in accordance withembodiments described herein, a first device (e.g., switch 202) maycomprise one or more processing components shown, while a second device(e.g., a remote server, not shown) comprises one or more other of theprocessing components (e.g., information determination logic 508,content identifier 510, and/or content analyzer 512). In this manner,because the sub-blocks of interactive sharing logic 502 shown in FIG. 5may be carried out by different processing components, additionalcomputing resources of a second device (e.g., a remote server) may beleveraged to increase the speed at which the sharing techniques takeplace. In addition, by leveraging additional computing resources (e.g.,one or more processors) of a second device, the first device (e.g.,switching device 404) may not need to perform processor intensiveactivities, which may result in a manufacturing cost reduction of thefirst device.

Accordingly, in embodiments, sharing an interactive identifier, alongwith along with information associated with the multimedia contentand/or the multimedia content, may be carried out in many ways. Forinstance, FIG. 6 depicts a flowchart 600 of a method performed by adevice (e.g., a multimedia switching device) enabling the sharing ofmultimedia content in accordance with an embodiment. The method offlowchart 600 may be implemented by system 400 as described above inreference to FIG. 4 and interactive sharing logic 502 described above inreference to FIG. 5. Other structural and operational embodiments willbe apparent to persons skilled in the relevant art(s) based on thefollowing discussion regarding flowchart 600, system 400, andinteractive sharing logic 502.

Flowchart 600 begins with step 602. At step 602, content presented by anoutput device may be recorded. For instance, multimedia content may beprovided by any one of electronic devices 402A-402C discussed above toswitching device 404. In embodiments, switching device 404, via switchcircuit 414, may provide the content to a sink device, such as one ofelectronic devices 402D or 402E such that the multimedia content may beviewed by a user.

In accordance with embodiments, interactive sharing logic 502 may recordmultimedia content provided by an output device (e.g., one of electronicdevices 402A-402C). In embodiments, capture logic 506 may be configuredto control the recording and storage of multimedia content in eitherbuffer(s) 504 and/or storage(s) 420 of switching device 404 inaccordance with the techniques described. In accordance with anembodiment, capture logic 506, upon receiving audio/video content froman output device, may decode the audio/video content, synchronize theaudio and video in time (for example, to compensate for any delay causedfrom the decode process), multiplex together the audio and video fromthe audio/video content, encode the multiplexed audio and video, and/orstore the encoded audio and video in buffer(s) 504. Capture logic 506may cause buffer(s) 504 to continuously record a certain orpredetermined amount of content provided by the output device while theuser is watching and/or listening to multimedia content via a sinkdevice (e.g., a display or other playback device). For instance, capturelogic 506 may be configured to cause buffer(s) 504 to continuously storethe last 10 seconds, last 5 minutes, last 15 minutes, or last 60 minutes(or any other time period) of multimedia content (e.g., audio and/orvideo content) presented by an output device. In embodiments, capturelogic 506 may identify a length of time of multimedia content to becontinuously recorded in buffer(s) 504 (e.g., through a user setting viauser interface logic 416 and/or by preprogramming a length of time intocapture logic 506).

As an example, a user may interact with a control device 406 (e.g., by asingle press of a “record” button or interface element) or issue a voicecommand 408 to record a clip. Because the last N seconds (e.g., 20seconds or any other specified or predetermined time) of the currentlywatched multimedia content) has been automatically recorded in buffer(s)504, capture logic 506 can be configured save the buffered content as a“clip” in response to receiving the user command, and store the recordedclip in a persistent or non-volatile storage in switching device 404(e.g., in storage(s) 420 or in a remotely-located storage). In thismanner, buffer(s) 504 may continuously record additional multimediacontent as it is provided by the output device, capture logic 506 storedthe desired clip in a storage for subsequent access, viewing, and/orsharing by the user.

In embodiments, buffer(s) 504 may be implemented via a hard disk, aremovable magnetic disk, a removable optical disk, flash memory cards,secure digital (SD) memory cards, digital video disks, random accessmemories (RAMs), an/or the like. One or more buffer(s) 504 may belocated locally (e.g., in switching device 404), and/or may be locatedon a remote storage (not shown) accessible via a suitable interface(e.g., network interface 424).

By incorporating buffer(s) 504 in the above manner, a user need notmanually rewind multimedia content to capture an interesting portion toshare with another user. Rather, as described herein, capture logic 506may automatically obtain and store multimedia content (e.g., the last 20seconds) recorded in buffer(s) 504 in response to a user command (e.g.,via a control device 406 or voice command 408) to record a short clip.

In other embodiments, capture logic 506 may be configured to recordmultimedia content that has not been stored in buffer(s) 504. Forexample, if a user is viewing/listening to content from streamingmultimedia device 402C, such content may not need to be buffered wherepreviously viewed/listened to content may be recorded by downloading thecontent directly from the service providing the content. For instance,if a user is viewing/listening to content from streaming multimediadevice 402C and instructs switching device 404 to record a clip (e.g.,the last N seconds), capture logic 506 may be configured to download thelast N seconds of content from the service (e.g., Netflix®) and storethe recorded content in a persistent or non-volatile storage onswitching device, such as storage(s) 420.

In another embodiment, capture logic 506 may be configured to recordmultimedia content provided by an output device for a time periodindicated by a user input. For instance, a user may press and hold a“record” button or interface element on control device 406. In thisscenario, capture logic 506 is configured to begin recording multimediacontent when the record button is pressed, and stops recording when therecording button is released. In other embodiments, instead ofinteracting with control device, multimedia content may be recorded fora user specified time period via voice command 408 (e.g., by instructingswitching device 404 to start recording content at a first point in timefollowed by a command to stop recording content at a second point intime). In this manner, multimedia content may be recorded in real-time,rather than recording previously watched/listened to content.

In an embodiment, capture logic 506 may also be configured to record asingle frame of the content, rather than a video, thereby causing animage to be recorded.

In accordance with the techniques described herein, upon recordingcontent provided by an output device, capture logic 506 mayautomatically store each clip of recorded multimedia content onswitching device 404 (e.g., in storage(s) 420). In other embodiments,recorded multimedia content may be stored automatically on anotherdevice (e.g., a smartphone, tablet, or other computing device coupled toswitching device), or on a remote (e.g., cloud-based) storage ratherthan, or in addition to, storing the clips in storage(s) 420. In otherembodiments, one switching device 404 may be coupled to one or moreother switching devices (not shown) via network interface 424. In suchan embodiment, each switching device may automatically share recordedclips with each other without further user involvement, thus enabling auser to easily access recorded clips of other users.

In embodiments, playback of multimedia content on electronic devices402D or 402E is not interrupted while recording a clip in response to auser instruction. For instance, capture logic 506 may be configured torecord content in the background, thus minimizing any disruption to thecontinuous playback of content. In another embodiment, capture logic 506may be configured to cause an overlay to appear on a display screen(e.g., electronic device 402D or 402E) during playback (e.g., in apicture-in-picture (PIP) window) or in a window alongside the contentbeing watched by the user. For example, suppose the user initiates therecording of content (e.g., either by pressing a “record” button,pressing and holding a “record” button, or issuing a voice command). Thecontent being recorded may be previewed in the window, thereby allowingthe user to continue to watch the multimedia content from the outputdevice at the same time as reviewing the content that he or she isrecording and/or would to share.

An overlaid window, for instance, may include an opaque orsemi-transparent frame (or multiple frames) of the recorded contentand/or information associated with the multimedia content. Inembodiments, the overlay may be located in a corner of the displayscreen so as to minimize disruption of the continuous playback ofcontent. The overlay may be temporary (e.g., automatically disappearafter a certain time interval has passed) or may disappear in responseto a user input. The overlay may further include selectable interfaceelements (e.g., via user interface logic 416) that permit a user toselect content for sharing, edit content using interactive editor 516,and/or share the content with another user. In yet another embodiment,capture logic 506 may be configured to pause the playback of the contentupon recording multimedia content in response to a user instruction,enabling the user to share the content if desired.

In other embodiments, upon recording content provided by an outputdevice, another electronic device (e.g., a smartphone, tablet, or othercomputing device coupled to switching device) may access the recordedmultimedia content through a suitable user interface (e.g., anapplication) on the electronic device. In this manner, a user may beable to access, view, and/or share multimedia content recorded onswitching device 404 without utilizing user interface logic 416. In anexample, upon recording multimedia content in one of the mannersdescribed above, a user may access the recorded content on anotherdevice (e.g., a smartphone) while continuing to watch/listen to contentprovided by the output device. Accordingly, continuous playback of themultimedia content on one of electronic devices 402D or 402E need not beinterrupted. Rather, a user may utilize separate interface to access therecorded content, and view/share such content using the other device inaccordance with techniques described herein.

In step 604, a selection is received of a portion of the multimediacontent for sharing. For instance, with reference to FIG. 5, capturelogic 506 may be configured to receive a selection to share a portion ofmultimedia content with one or more users. Capture logic 506 may receivethe selection via a user input, e.g., in response to a user interactingwith control device 406 or issuing voice command 408 to switching device404.

In embodiments, the selection may be carried out in a number of ways.For example, where an overlay is displayed on a screen (e.g., viaelectronic devices 402D or 402E), a user may interact, via userinterface logic 416, with the overlay to select content being viewedand/or content previously being recorded (e.g., displayed in theoverlay) for sharing. In another embodiment, a user may browse a list ofpreviously recorded portions (e.g., clips) of multimedia content storedin storage(s) 420, or accessible via switching device 404 if storedremotely. Accordingly, a user may interact with user interface logic 416to select any one of the portions of multimedia content previouslyrecorded for sharing. In yet another embodiment, discussed later, a usermay edit a previously recorded clip via interactive editor 516 andselect an edited version of the multimedia content for sharing.

In yet another embodiment, a user may select a portion of multimediacontent currently being presented for sharing with another user. Forinstance, a user may select content for sharing without previouslyrecording the content. As an example, while watching certain multimediacontent, a user may decide that an interesting scene was presented. Auser may thereby interact with control device 406 or issue a voicecommand 408 to select the portion of content being presented for sharingwith another user. In this manner, regardless whether a user haspreviously recorded multimedia content, interactive sharing logic 502may still enable a user to share multimedia content (e.g., via at leasta user-interactive identifier and/or information associated with thecontent) with another user.

In step 606, information associated with the portion of the multimediacontent for sharing is determined. For instance, with reference to FIG.5, content identifier 510 may be configured to determine various typesof information associated with the portion of the multimedia content(apriori, or in accordance with content recognition techniques describedlater). In embodiments, content identifier 510 may determine or obtainany information corresponding, or otherwise associated with, the portionof the multimedia content. Because switching device 404 is a smartswitching device that can interact with electronic devices 402A-402C(e.g., sources of the multimedia content) and/or analyze signalsreceived therefrom, content identifier 510 can automatically determineinformation associated with the content viewed by the user uponselection of the portion of the multimedia content.

In one example, content identifier 510 may determine metadatainformation associated with the multimedia content (e.g., a date/time ofrecording, a name of the multimedia content or programming, such as a TVshow's name, a description of the content, name(s) of the actor(s) ofthe multimedia content, metadata specifying a content identification(ID), or otherwise any other information regarding the content). Inanother example, content identifier 510 may determine a serviceproviding the multimedia content. For instance, content identifier 510may determine that the multimedia content was obtained from a streamingmedia service (e.g., an application such as Netflix®) or obtained from asubscribed channel through a STB. In another example, content identifier510 may determine a source device (e.g., an AppleTV®, a Roku® device, aSTB, a Blu-ray player, etc.) providing the multimedia content. In yetanother example, content identifier 510 may determine, a time indexassociated with the multimedia content. For instance, a time index mayinclude a starting time, an ending time, and/or a run time for themultimedia content (e.g., 2:35 to 2:55). In another example, contentidentifier 510 may determine a unique identification assigned to themultimedia content by the service providing the multimedia content(e.g., a name or other identifier associated with the multimediacontent, a season and/or episode number, a description, summary, oroverview of the multimedia content, etc., a unique ID assigned to thecontent by the provider providing the content). Content identifier mayfurther determine or one or more other services or providers thatprovide the multimedia content. For example, content identifier 510 maydetermine if additional services (e.g., other applications, sourcedevices, and/or subscribed channels) may provide access to the portionof the multimedia content. In this manner, content identifier 510 mayautomatically determine whether more than one service provides access tothe multimedia content, and optionally share an interactive identifier(discussed later) for each additional service.

It is noted that the information described herein that contentidentifier 510 may determine is illustrative only. In accordance withembodiments, content identifier 510 may determine any other type ofinformation associated with the multimedia content as will beappreciated by those skilled in the art.

In step 608, a selection of one or more users with which to share theportion of the multimedia content is received. For example, withreference to FIG. 5, sharing logic 514 may be configured to receive(e.g., from a user), a selection of a user, or users, to sharemultimedia content. The selection of the user(s) may be obtained in asimilar manner as described above, e.g., via control device 406 or viavoice command 408.

In embodiments, sharing logic 514 may be configured to provide aninterface (e.g., via user interface logic 416) in which a user maynavigate to carry out the selection of one or more users. For instance,an overlay that appears on a display screen may provide interfaceelements in which a user may select one or more users to share theselected of multimedia content with. In another embodiment, sharinglogic 514 may provide an interface in which a user may browse a list ofpreviously recorded portions of multimedia content and select one ormore users to share selected clips with.

Sharing logic 514 may receive a selection to share multimedia content(e.g., via a user-interactive identifier where the content may beaccessed, information associated with the content, or the filecontaining the multimedia content) in a number of ways. For example,sharing logic 514 may receive a command to share the portion ofmultimedia content with a plurality of users via the user's social mediaaccount (e.g., via the user's Facebook® account, Twitter® account,Instagram® account, etc.). In accordance with another embodiment,sharing logic 514 may receive a command to share the portion ofmultimedia content by transmitting the content directly to anotherdevice. For example, a user may desire to send a user-interactiveidentifier or a file comprising the audio/video content directly tocertain device or devices (e.g., a computer, a tablet, a smart phone,etc.). In one example, a user may select an option to share the content(e.g., a user-interactive identifier, a video file, an audio file, or aframe or GIF extracted from the portion of the multimedia content) touser's own mobile phone (or other electronic device) and/or other users'mobile phones (or electronic devices). In accordance with embodiments,the selection of one or more users may comprise selecting a phone number(e.g., to share the content via a text message), an e-mail address, orany other unique identifier (e.g., IP address, Media Access Control(MAC) address, or any other user/device identifier or address) suitablefor routing the content to another user.

In step 610, a user-interactive identifier and at least one of theinformation or the portion of the multimedia content is transmitted tothe one or more selected users. For example, with reference to FIG. 4, atransmitter, such as network interface 424, may be configured totransmit the user-interactive identifier, at least the informationdetermined by content identifier 510 or the portion of the multimediacontent to one or more users (e.g., user(s) of electronic device(s)426).

In accordance with embodiments the multimedia content may be transmittedin a number of ways. For instance, network interface 424 may beconfigured to transmit a user-interactive identifier to the one or moreelectronic device(s) along with information associated with themultimedia content and/or the portion of the multimedia content. Inembodiments, the user-interactive identifier, when activated, may beconfigured to cause at least one of the content and the information tobe accessed by user(s) of electronic device(s) 426.

In accordance with one or more embodiments, the user-interactiveidentifier is a URL. In accordance with such an embodiment, the URL maybe provided as a hyperlink to the other user in a message (e.g., a textmessage, an e-mail, etc.). Upon activating the hyperlink via electronicdevice(s) 426 (e.g., a computer, smart phone, etc.), the user may beaccess the multimedia content and/or associated information. Activationof the hyperlink may further cause electronic device(s) 426 to play themultimedia content. In embodiments, playback of multimedia content uponactivation of the user-interactive identifier may commence at thebeginning of the multimedia content (e.g., the starting of a movie ortelevision program). In other embodiments, playback may be resumed froma point in time associated with a time index discussed herein, enablingthe user to view or listen to certain specified content. For instance,if the time index indicates that the shared content represents times2:35 through 2:55 of the multimedia content, then playback may begin attime 2:35 and/or end at time 2:55.

Accordingly, the user(s) of electronic device(s) 426 receiving theuser-interactive identifier, associated information, and the portion ofthe multimedia content is able to watch or listen to the transmittedclip, as well as launch the multimedia content on electronic device(s)426 upon activating the hyperlink. For example, upon activating thehyperlink, the content and/or associated information may be accessed atthe location corresponding to the hyperlink and downloaded to the user'slocal device (e.g., electronic device 426) and/or played back via thelocal device.

In other embodiments, the user-interactive identifier may comprise ahyperlink causing the multimedia content to be launched on a separatedevice. For instance, in an embodiment, activating a hyperlink on one ofelectronic device(s) 426 (e.g., a smartphone or a computing device) mayautomatically cause another device associated with the smartphone (e.g.,a switching device or another computing device, such as a tablet on thesame local area network) to launch the multimedia content. In anotherembodiment, the user-interactive identifier may be transmitted directlyfrom one switching device 404 to another switching device 404 (e.g., onthe same local network or on a different local network), which whenactivated, causes the other switching device to launch the multimediacontent. In yet another embodiment, activating a user-interactiveidentifier may further cause a message to be displayed to a userindicating, e.g., that the multimedia content will be launched onanother device (e.g., a Roku® device) and instructing the user to poweron a display and/or switch an appropriate input of the display to viewthe content.

In some instances, a user-interactive identifier causing the multimediacontent to be launched may not be immediately available at the time aportion of multimedia content is recorded. For example, if a userselects a live television program to share, the user-interactiveidentifier, in certain instances, may enable another user uponactivation of the hyperlink to access the live television program if anonline streaming service for the channel is available. However, in manyinstances, live television broadcasts are not available online. In suchsituations, the user-interactive identifier, when activated, maynevertheless cause a website to be launched containing informationassociated with the live television broadcast (e.g., a websitecontaining a description of television show, or a website containing thescore and/or play-by-play summary for a live sports game). In othersituations, the television broadcast may become available at a latertime (e.g., through a video-on-demand (VOD) service). In such asituation, content identifier 510 may obtain a user-interactiveidentifier to the VOD service, such that when the multimedia content isshared by a user at a later date, the hyperlink to the VOD service maybe transmitted along with the associated information and/or the clip ofthe multimedia content. Accordingly, as time goes on, theuser-interactive identifier (or other information obtained by contentidentifier 510) may be updated with little to no user involvement.

In embodiments, associated information transmitted along with theuser-interactive identifier may be used determine which provider is toplayback the content. For example, suppose that a user of switchingdevice 404 shares video content viewed from streaming multimedia player402C (e.g., via a Netflix® application), but the receiving person doesnot have a Netflix® account. In this situation, the associatedinformation may identify whether the video content can be played backusing a different service to which the receiving person subscribes(e.g., Amazon Prime®, Hulu®, etc.). For example, if the receiving userhas a subscription to Amazon Prime® and the associated informationindicates that shared video content is also available on Amazon Prime®,the video content may be played back using Amazon Prime® upon activationof the user-interactive identifier.

In other embodiments, along with the user-interactive identifier and/orthe information associated with the multimedia content, the portion ofthe multimedia content may be transmitted. For instance, the portion ofthe multimedia content may be transmitted as a video or audio file inany known or native format (e.g., .mov, .mp4, .avi, .wmv, .3gp, .mkv,.mp3, .wav, .wma, etc.). In another embodiment, the portion of themultimedia content may be transmitted as a single frame in any knownimage format (.jpg, .gif, .bmp, .png, .tiff, etc.). In yet anotherembodiment, the portion of the multimedia content may be transmitted inaccordance with an animated GIF derived from the portion of themultimedia content, or any other format lacking audio.

In embodiments, the portion of the multimedia content transmitted toelectronic device(s) 426 may be transmitted in an uncompressed or acompressed format. For instance, the portion of the multimedia contentmay be compressed to reduce a transmission time and/or decrease thebandwidth required for quick transmissions. In another embodiment,switching device 404 may automatically limit a size of the portion ofmultimedia content to be transmitted by, e.g., capping a file sizeand/or limiting the transmitted multimedia content to a certain length(e.g., 5 seconds, 10 seconds, 20 seconds, etc.). In this manner,switching device 404 may prevent a user from transmitting an entiretelevision show or movie to another device, but rather only enables thetransmission of short video clips or even a single frame.

In accordance with techniques described herein, the portion of themultimedia content may additionally contain a watermark or other similaridentifier or marking. For instance, the watermark may comprise anidentity of switching device 404 transmitting the portion of themultimedia content, information obtained from content identifier 510, orany other information.

Although it is described herein that network interface 424 may beutilized to communicate with one or more electronic device(s) 426, it isunderstood that transmissions are not so limited. Interactive sharinglogic 502 may enable the sharing of the user-interactive identifier, theinformation associated with the multimedia content, and the multimediacontent with one or more electronic device(s) 426 via any suitablecommunication protocol, including but not limited to any suitable typeof RF communication (e.g., Bluetooth™, as described in the variousstandards developed and licensed by the Bluetooth™ Special InterestGroup, technologies such as ZigBee® that are based on the IEEE 802.15.4standard for wireless personal area networks, NFC, other RF-based orIP-based communication technologies such as any of the well-known IEEE802.11 protocols, etc.) or non-RF communication (e.g., IR).

It is noted that the above techniques enable a user to selectively shareand/or record portions multimedia content without affecting ordisturbing playback of the content. For example, because the recording(e.g., via capture logic 506) may be accomplished with a simple commandfrom a control device 406 or a voice command, and user interface logic416 may enable the sharing of the multimedia content via an overlaypresented on the display device, each of operations 602, 604, 606, 608,and/or 610 of flowchart 600 may be performed while the multimediacontent is continuously provided on a display device withoutinterruption.

In some example embodiments, one or more of operations 602, 604, 606,608, and/or 610 of flowchart 600 may not be performed. Moreover,operations in addition to or in lieu of operations 602, 604, 606, 608,and/or 610 may be performed. Further, in some example embodiments, oneor more of operations 602, 604, 606, 608, and/or 610 may be performedout of order, in an alternate sequence, or partially (or completely)concurrently with each other or with other operations.

In accordance with embodiments disclosed herein, a portion of recordedmultimedia content may be edited prior to sharing with another user. Forinstance, FIG. 7 depicts a flowchart 700 of a method performed by aswitching device that enables editing, via an interactive editor, aportion of multimedia content in accordance with an embodiment. Themethod of flowchart 700 may be implemented by system 400 as describedabove in reference to FIG. 4 and interactive sharing logic 502 asdescribed above in reference to FIG. 5. Other structural and operationalembodiments will be apparent to persons skilled in the relevant art(s)based on the following discussion regarding flowchart 700, system 400,and interactive sharing logic 502.

Flowchart 700 begins with step 702. At step 702, an interactive editoris provided that enables a user to edit a portion of multimedia content.For instance, with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5, interactive editor 516may be provided to a user, via user interface logic 416, enabling theuser to edit a previously recorded multimedia clip. In accordance withembodiments, a user may launch interactive editor 516 by selecting aninterface element, via user interface logic 416, displayed on a sinkdevice (e.g., electronic devices 402D or 402E). For example, uponrecording a short clip of multimedia content in accordance with thetechniques described herein, an overlay may be presented on the displaydevice that displays a frame (or frames) of the recorded multimediacontent, along with an interface element(s) to share the portion of therecorded multimedia content (e.g., via a social media network or viaanother manner such as a text message or email) and an interface elementto launch interactive editor 516. In other embodiments, a listing ofpreviously recorded portions of multimedia content accessible viaswitching device 404 may contain an interface element to launchinteractive editor 516 for a selected clip. Using control device 406and/or voice command 408, a user may thereby select the interfaceelement, causing interactive editor 516 to be launched on a displayscreen for any selected multimedia content.

Interactive editor 516 may be configured to provide an interface to edita selected video (or audio) clip in a number of ways. For instance,interactive editor 516 may enable a user to edit a start time, an endtime, and/or a length of the selected multimedia content. In anotherembodiment, interactive editor 516 may enable a user to extract ananimated GIF or a single frame to share with another user. In anotherexample, interactive editor 516 may allow a user to alter a video and/oraudio quality prior to sharing the clip with another user in accordancewith techniques described herein. Interactive editor 516 may also beconfigured to provide additional content editing features known andappreciated to those skilled in the art, and are not limited to theillustrative embodiments described herein.

For example, upon launching interactive editor 516 for a particular itemof selected multimedia content, user interface logic 416 may cause theselected content to be enlarged on the screen. The user may then beenabled to select which portion(s) of the recorded content are to besaved and/or shared (e.g., by using an interface element, such as aslider, that enables the user to select a starting point and/or anending point of the content to be saved or shared). The user may furtherbe enabled to select single frames to be saved or shared from theselected content.

Upon editing a selected portion of multimedia content, a user ofswitching device 404 may store the edited portion in storage(s) 420 (oranother storage) and/or may share the edited portion with another in amanner as described above.

In accordance with an embodiment, interactive sharing logic 502 may befurther configured to perform content recognition for portions ofrecorded multimedia content. For instance, FIG. 8 depicts a flowchart800 of a method performed by interactive sharing logic 502 to analyzecontent to obtain additional information about the content in accordancewith an embodiment. The method of flowchart 800 may be implemented bysystem 400 as described above in reference to FIG. 4 and interactivesharing logic 502 described above in reference to FIG. 5. Otherstructural and operational embodiments will be apparent to personsskilled in the relevant art(s) based on the following discussionregarding flowchart 800, system 400, and interactive sharing logic 502.

Flowchart 800 begins with step 802. At step 802, one or more frames of aportion of multimedia content are analyzed to obtain additionalinformation. For instance, with reference to FIG. 5, content analyzer512 may be configured to extract one or more frames from a portion ofmultimedia content recorded according to techniques described above.Upon extracting one or more frames, content analyzer 512 may use contentrecognition techniques to obtain information regarding the contentwithin the one or more extracted frames. In an embodiment, while one ormore processors of switching device 404 may be configured to carry outfunctions of content analyzer 512 to analyze content within extractedframes, it is understood that one or more processors of a remote device(e.g., a cloud-based server) may carry out the functions of contentanalyzer 512. Given that content recognition can entail greaterprocessing requirements, utilizing a remote device to carry out suchfunctions may enable content analyzer 512 to analyze frames quicker,thus optimizing a user experience of switching device 404.

Content analyzer 512 may analyze one or more extracted frames to obtaina wide variety of additional information relating to recorded multimediacontent. In one embodiment, content analyzer 512 may identify additionalmultimedia content related to the one or more portions of multimediacontent. For example, content analyzer 512 may identify additionaltelevision shows, movies, and/or programming containing content similarto the extracted content (e.g., similar genres, themes, plots, castmembers, directors, producers, etc.). In another illustrative example,content analyzer 512 may identify other short video clips accessible vianetwork interface 424 (e.g., via a number of video hosting platforms,such as YouTube®, or recorded on another user's multimedia switchingdevice). For instance, if a user recorded a clip of an interestingsports play (e.g., a touchdown in a football game or a slam dunk in abasketball game) in accordance with techniques described above, contentanalyzer 512 may identify similar sports plays (e.g., similar touchdownsor slam dunks) available online or recorded on another user's switchingdevice. In another embodiment, content analyzer 512 may also beconfigured to identify additional camera angles of the same sports plays(e.g., different views of the same touchdown or slam dunk).

In another embodiment, content analyzer 512 may determine a brand ortype of product (e.g., shoes, beverages, vehicles, electronic devices,clothing, etc.) contained within one or more portions of recordedmultimedia content. In yet another embodiment, content analyzer 512 mayanalyze one or more frames of recorded content to identify an actor oractress present in the recorded content. In yet another embodiment,content analyzer 512 may identify a filming location of a portion ofrecorded multimedia content using the content recognition techniquesdescribed herein. It is noted that the additional information describedabove that may be obtained by content analyzer 512 are onlyillustrative. In accordance with embodiments, content analyzer 512 mayobtain any other type of additional information relating to the recordedmultimedia content as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art.

In embodiments, content analyzer 512 may be configured to automaticallyanalyze multimedia content without an explicit user instruction. Forinstance, content analyzer 512 may automatically analyze each clip uponrecording the clip in accordance with techniques described. While a userultimately may not share each recorded clip with one or more users,content analyzer 512 may nevertheless analyze each recorded clip toobtain additional information as described above, e.g., to locateadditional content or to target advertisements or recommendations to theuser based on the types of content that the user has chosen to record.

In an embodiment, content analyzer 512 may be further configured tocontinuously analyze each portion of multimedia content recorded inaccordance with the above techniques to obtain additional information.For example, given that additional content available via the Internet isconstantly growing, the relevance of information extracted by contentanalyzer 512 for a given clip may change over time. For instance,additional information and/or metadata associated with a given clip maybe obtained in the hours, days, or weeks following a user's recording ofthe clip. Accordingly, content analyzer 512 may be configured torepeatedly (e.g. at predetermined intervals or at random intervals)analyze recorded multimedia clips to determine if additional informationmay be obtained for the clip. In embodiments, the longer the time thatpasses, the more information that may be obtained by content analyzer512 for a given clip of multimedia content.

In another embodiment, content analyzer 512 may be located remotely(e.g., on a cloud-based server) to analyze users' recorded multimediacontent. In this scenario, given that content analyzer 512 may beconfigured to analyze content for a plurality of switching devices 404,content analyzer 512 may determine that certain multimedia content (orcontent contained within users' recorded content) is commonly recordedby a plurality of users. Accordingly, content analyzer 512 may determinethat such content is of high interest to its users, and as a resultcontent analyzer 512 may perform additional processing (e.g., moreaggressive content recognition) on the content.

In step 804, the additional information is provided to a user. Forinstance, with reference to FIG. 4, additional information obtained bycontent analyzer 512 may be provided to a user in a number of ways. Inone embodiment, content analyzer 512 may provide the additionalinformation via user interface logic 416 presented on a display device(e.g., electronic device 402D or 402E). For instance, a display devicemay display the additional information alongside a frame representingthe recorded content. In another embodiment, the additional informationmay be displayed to a user in response to a user selecting a particularitem of recorded multimedia content. In another embodiment, theadditional information may be transmitted to a user's electronic device(e.g., one of electronic device(s) 426) automatically (e.g., along withthe portion of the multimedia content shared with the user) or inresponse to a user request to transmit the additional information.

In other embodiments, the additional information may be displayed to auser apart from the recorded multimedia content (e.g., for targetedadvertisements based on a user's recorded content). In yet embodiments,for instance, related multimedia content identified by content analyzer512 may be displayed to a user in a separate user interface screen ofswitching device 404 (e.g., on a separate screen containing recommendedcontent for a particular user based on a viewing and/or a recordinghistory).

In some example embodiments, one or more of operations 802 and/or 804may not be performed. Moreover, operations in addition to or in lieu ofoperations 802 and/or 804 may be performed. Further, in some exampleembodiments, one or more of operations 802 and/or 804 may be performedout of order, in an alternate sequence, or partially (or completely)concurrently with each other or with other operations.

In accordance with embodiments disclosed herein, multimedia contentrecorded using the techniques described above may be stored, along withadditional information relating to the recorded content. For instance,FIG. 9 depicts a flowchart 900 of a method performed by an exemplaryswitching device that stores content and information associated with thecontent in accordance with an embodiment. The method of flowchart 900may be implemented by system 400 as described above in reference to FIG.4 and interactive sharing logic 502 described above in reference to FIG.5. Other structural and operational embodiments will be apparent topersons skilled in the relevant art(s) based on the following discussionregarding flowchart 800, system 400, and interactive sharing logic 502.

Flowchart 900 begins with step 902. In step 902, one or more portions ofmultimedia content provided by an output device is recorded. Forinstance, capture logic 506 may record portions of multimedia content inresponse to a user input, as discussed above with reference to step 602of FIG. 6.

In step 904, the one or more portions of multimedia content are stored.For instance, with reference to FIG. 4, the one or more portions ofrecorded multimedia content, along with information determined viacontent identifier 510, a frame or image associated with recordedmultimedia content, and/or an animated GIF derived from the recordedmultimedia content in accordance with techniques described herein may bestored locally (e.g., in storage(s) 420), and/or may be stored on aremote device (e.g., a smartphone or a cloud-based server), as discussedabove. In embodiments, a user may store a plurality of clips whileviewing or listening to multimedia content provided by an output device,irrespective of whether the user has shared the clips with one or moreusers. For example, a user may wish to record several clips whilewatching certain multimedia content, but may not decide which ones, ifany, to share until a later time (e.g., after the multimedia content hasended). Upon the conclusion of the multimedia content, the user mayaccess a listing of all the clips previously recorded, at which pointthe user may decide to share one or more clips, delete one or moreclips, and/or save one or more clips to view or share later.

For instance, when accessing previously stored clips, user interfacelogic 416 may provide a frame (e.g., the first video frame) associatedwith each clip of recorded multimedia content. A user may interact withuser interface logic 416 using the above techniques (e.g., via a controldevice 406 or voice command 408) to select a particular clip of recordedmultimedia content. In embodiments, upon selecting a particular clip,the frame associated with the selected clip may be enlarged on thedisplay device (e.g., electronic device 402D or 402E). The displaydevice may also provide selectable interface elements to share (e.g.,via social media or with one or more users) the multimedia content oredit the multimedia content, in accordance with the above describedtechniques.

In embodiments, user interface logic 416 may further be configured tocause the display device to display information (e.g., metadata or otherinformation obtained by content identifier 510) associated with eachclip of recorded multimedia content.

In step 906, one or more frames of the portions of multimedia contentare analyzed to obtain additional information. For instance, contentanalyzer 512 may analyze frames from portions of recorded multimediacontent, as discussed above with reference to step 802 of FIG. 8.

In step 908, the additional information is stored. For example, withreference to FIG. 4, additional information from content analyzer 512may be stored along with each clip of recorded multimedia content in amanner as described above (e.g., locally or in a remote storage device).In embodiments, additional information obtained from content analyzer512 may be stored as metadata or any other manner so as to associate theadditional information with a particular recorded clip. In this manner,a user searching recorded clips accessible via switching device 404 maysearch not only the clip and associated information (e.g., from contentidentifier 510), but may also search the additional information obtainedfrom content analyzer 512. As an illustrative example, if a user decidesto search switching device 404 for a particular type of sports play(e.g., touchdowns or slam dunks), switching device 404 would identifyall recorded clips that contained the particular type of sports playbased on metadata obtained from content analyzer 512.

In some example embodiments, one or more of operations 902, 904, 906,and/or 908 may not be performed. Moreover, operations in addition to orin lieu of operations 902, 904, 906, and/or 908 may be performed.Further, in some example embodiments, one or more of operations 902,904, 906, and/or 908 may be performed out of order, in an alternatesequence, or partially (or completely) concurrently with each other orwith other operations.

Further Example Embodiments

A device, as defined herein, is a machine or manufacture as defined by35 U.S.C. § 101. Devices may be digital, analog or a combinationthereof. Devices may include integrated circuits (ICs), one or moreprocessors (e.g., central processing units (CPUs), microprocessors,digital signal processors (DSPs), etc.) and/or may be implemented withany semiconductor technology, including one or more of a BipolarJunction Transistor (BJT), a heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT), ametal oxide field effect transistor (MOSFET) device, a metalsemiconductor field effect transistor (MESFET) or other transconductoror transistor technology device. Such devices may use the same oralternative configurations other than the configuration illustrated inembodiments presented herein.

Techniques and embodiments, including methods, described herein may beimplemented in hardware (digital and/or analog) or a combination ofhardware and software and/or firmware. Techniques described herein maybe implemented in one or more components. Embodiments may comprisecomputer program products comprising logic (e.g., in the form of programcode or instructions as well as firmware) stored on any computer useablestorage medium, which may be integrated in or separate from othercomponents. Such program code, when executed in one or more processors,causes a device to operate as described herein. Devices in whichembodiments may be implemented may include storage, such as storagedrives, memory devices, and further types of computer-readable media.Examples of such computer-readable storage media include, but are notlimited to, a hard disk, a removable magnetic disk, a removable opticaldisk, flash memory cards, digital video disks, random access memories(RAMs), read only memories (ROM), and the like. In greater detail,examples of such computer-readable storage media include, but are notlimited to, a hard disk associated with a hard disk drive, a removablemagnetic disk, a removable optical disk (e.g., CDROMs, DVDs, etc.), zipdisks, tapes, magnetic storage devices, MEMS (micro-electromechanicalsystems) storage, nanotechnology-based storage devices, as well as othermedia such as flash memory cards, digital video discs, RAM devices, ROMdevices, and the like. Such computer-readable storage media may, forexample, store computer program logic, e.g., program modules, comprisingcomputer executable instructions that, when executed, provide and/ormaintain one or more aspects of functionality described herein withreference to the figures, as well as any and all components, steps andfunctions therein and/or further embodiments described herein.

Computer readable storage media are distinguished from andnon-overlapping with communication media. Communication media embodiescomputer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules orother data in a modulated data signal such as a carrier wave. The term“modulated data signal” means a signal that has one or more of itscharacteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encode informationin the signal. By way of example, and not limitation, communicationmedia includes wired media as well as wireless media such as acoustic,RF, IR and other wireless media. Example embodiments are also directedto such communication media.

The multimedia content sharing embodiments and/or any further systems,sub-systems, and/or components disclosed herein may be implemented inhardware (e.g., hardware logic/electrical circuitry), or any combinationof hardware with software (computer program code configured to beexecuted in one or more processors or processing devices) and/orfirmware.

The embodiments described herein, including systems, methods/processes,and/or apparatuses, may be implemented using well known processingdevices, telephones (smart phones and/or mobile phones), servers,electronic devices (e.g., consumer electronic devices) and/or,computers, such as a computer 1000 shown in FIG. 10. It should be notedthat computer 1000 may represent communication devices, processingdevices, servers, and/or traditional computers in one or moreembodiments. For example, electronic devices 102A-102D, electronicdevices 302A and 302B, electronic devices 402A-402E, and electronicdevice(s) 426 (as described above in reference to FIGS. 1, 3, 4),control device(s) 106, control device 406 (as described above inreference to FIGS. 1 and 4), switching device 104, switching device 204,switching device 304, switching device 404 (as described above inreference to FIGS. 1-4, respectively), or any of the sub-systems,components or sub-components respectively contained therein, may beimplemented using one or more computers 1000.

Computer 1000 can be any commercially available and well-knowncommunication device, processing device, and/or computer capable ofperforming the functions described herein, such as devices/computersavailable from International Business Machines®, Apple®, Sun®, HP®,Dell®, Cray®, Samsung®, Nokia®, etc. Computer 1000 may be any type ofcomputer, including a desktop computer, a server, etc.

Computer 1000 includes one or more processors (also called centralprocessing units, or CPUs), such as a processor 1006. Processor 1006 isconnected to a communication infrastructure 1002, such as acommunication bus. In some embodiments, processor 1006 cansimultaneously operate multiple computing threads.

Computer 1000 also includes a primary or main memory 1008, such asrandom access memory (RAM). Main memory 1008 has stored therein controllogic 1024 (computer software), and data.

Computer 1000 also includes one or more secondary storage devices 1010.Secondary storage devices 1010 include, for example, a hard disk drive1012 and/or a removable storage device or drive 1014, as well as othertypes of storage devices, such as memory cards and memory sticks. Forinstance, computer 1000 may include an industry standard interface, sucha USB interface for interfacing with devices such as a memory stick.Removable storage drive 1014 represents a floppy disk drive, a magnetictape drive, a compact disk drive, an optical storage device, tapebackup, etc.

Removable storage drive 1014 interacts with a removable storage unit1016. Removable storage unit 1016 includes a computer useable orreadable storage medium 1018 having stored therein computer software1026 (control logic) and/or data. Removable storage unit 1016 representsa floppy disk, magnetic tape, compact disk, DVD, optical storage disk,or any other computer data storage device. Removable storage drive 1014reads from and/or writes to removable storage unit 1016 in a well-knownmanner.

Computer 1000 also includes input/output/display devices 1004, such astouchscreens, LED and LCD displays, monitors, keyboards, pointingdevices, etc.

Computer 1000 further includes a communication or network interface1020. Communication interface 1020 enables computer 1000 to communicatewith remote devices. For example, communication interface 1020 allowscomputer 1000 to communicate over communication networks or mediums 1022(representing a form of a computer useable or readable medium), such asLANs, WANs, the Internet, etc. Network interface 1020 may interface withremote sites or networks via wired or wireless connections.

Control logic 1028 may be transmitted to and from computer 1000 via thecommunication medium 1022.

Any apparatus or manufacture comprising a computer useable or readablemedium having control logic (software) stored therein is referred toherein as a computer program product or program storage device. Thisincludes, but is not limited to, computer 1000, main memory 1008,secondary storage devices 1010, and removable storage unit 1016. Suchcomputer program products, having control logic stored therein that,when executed by one or more data processing devices, cause such dataprocessing devices to operate as described herein, represent embodimentsof the invention.

Any apparatus or manufacture comprising a computer useable or readablemedium having control logic (software) stored therein is referred toherein as a computer program product or program storage device. Thisincludes, but is not limited to, a computer, computer main memory,secondary storage devices, and removable storage units. Such computerprogram products, having control logic stored therein that, whenexecuted by one or more data processing devices, cause such dataprocessing devices to operate as described herein, represent embodimentsof the inventive techniques described herein.

CONCLUSION

While various embodiments have been described above, it should beunderstood that they have been presented by way of example only, and notlimitation. It will be apparent to persons skilled in the relevantart(s) that various changes in form and detail can be made thereinwithout departing from the spirit and scope of the embodiments. Thus,the breadth and scope of the embodiments should not be limited by any ofthe above-described exemplary embodiments, but should be defined only inaccordance with the following claims and their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for sharing content, comprising:receiving a selection to share a portion of the multimedia contentpresented by an output device; determining information associated withthe portion of the multimedia content; receiving a selection of one ormore users to share the portion of the multimedia content with; andtransmitting a user-interactive identifier and at least one of theinformation or the portion of the multimedia content to the one or moreselected users, the user-interactive identifier configured to enable themultimedia content to be accessed by the one or more selected users. 2.The method of claim 1, wherein the information includes at least one of:metadata information associated with the multimedia content; a serviceproviding the multimedia content; a source device providing themultimedia content; a time index associated with the multimedia content;a unique identification assigned to the multimedia content by theservice providing the multimedia content; or one or more other servicesthat provide the multimedia content.
 3. The method of claim 1, whereinat least one of said receiving the selection to share the portion of themultimedia content and said receiving the selection of one or more userscomprises receiving a voice command.
 4. The method of claim 1, whereinthe user-interactive identifier is a uniform resource locator.
 5. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising recording at least the portion ofthe multimedia content presented by the output device in a buffer. 6.The method of claim 1, further comprising recording at least the portionof the multimedia content presented by the output device for a timeperiod indicated by a user input.
 7. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: providing an interactive editor, via a graphical userinterface, that enables editing the portion of the multimedia content.8. The method of claim 1, further comprising: analyzing one or frames ofthe portion of the multimedia content to obtain additional informationrelating to the portion of the multimedia content; and providing theadditional information to a user.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein saidreceiving the selection to share the portion of the multimedia content,said determining information, said receiving the selection of one ormore users, and said transmitting are performed while the multimediacontent is continuously provided on a display device.
 10. A system forsharing multimedia content, comprising: capture logic configured toreceive a selection to share a portion of the multimedia contentpresented by an output device; a content identifier configured todetermine information associated with the portion of the multimediacontent; sharing logic configured to receive a selection of one or moreusers to share the portion of the multimedia content with; and atransmitter for transmitting a user-interactive identifier and at leastone of the information or the portion of the multimedia content to theone or more selected users, the user-interactive identifier configuredto enable the multimedia content to be accessed by the one or moreselected users.
 11. The system of claim 10, wherein the informationincludes at least one of: metadata information associated with themultimedia content; a service providing the multimedia content; a sourceproviding the multimedia content; a time index associated with themultimedia content; a unique identification assigned to the multimediacontent by the service providing the multimedia content; and/or one ormore other services that provide the multimedia content.
 12. The systemof claim 10, wherein at least one of the capture logic or the sharinglogic is configured to receive a voice command.
 13. The system of claim10, wherein the user-interactive identifier is a uniform resourcelocator.
 14. The system of claim 10, wherein the capture logic isfurther configured to record at least the portion of the multimediacontent presented by the output device in a buffer.
 15. The system ofclaim 10, wherein the capture logic is further configured to record atleast the portion of multimedia content presented by the output devicefor a time period indicated by a user input.
 16. The system of claim 10,further comprising: an interactive editor configured to enable editingthe portion of the multimedia content.
 17. The system of claim 10,further comprising: a content analyzer configured to analyze one orframes of the portion of the multimedia content to obtain additionalinformation relating to the portion of the multimedia content; and adisplay device configured to provide the additional information to auser.
 18. The system of claim 10, wherein a display device is configuredto continuously provide the multimedia content while the capture logicreceives the selection, the content identifier determines theinformation, the sharing logic receives the command, and the transmittertransmits the user-interactive identifier.
 19. A method for providingmultimedia content, comprising: recording one or more portions ofmultimedia content presented by an output device; storing the one ormore portions of multimedia content in a storage device; analyzing oneor frames of the one or more portions of the multimedia content toobtain additional information relating to the one or more portions ofmultimedia content; and storing the additional information relating tothe one or more portions in the storage device.
 20. The method of claim19, wherein the additional information comprises information includes atleast one of: additional multimedia content related to the one or moreportions of multimedia content; a brand or type of product present inthe one or more portions of multimedia content; an actor or actresspresent in the one or more portions of multimedia content; and/or afilming location of the one or more portions of multimedia content.